Distractions
by alohakaoha
Summary: [Part of The Ginger Series] Sirius Black surely doesn't get feelings for girls. I mean, they're just good for a shag right? An introspective look at Sirius Black before, during and after Remus' challenge. THREESHOT. Takes place during Mating of the Wersh
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Sirius Black surely doesn't get feelings for girls. I mean, they're just good for a shag right? A look at the inner workings of Sirius' mind before, during and after Remus' challenge. If you haven't read "The Mating of the Wersh" it is highly recommended that you do.  
**

**This is part one of three for this fic.**

**Wonderful beta fuegodealmas, thank you!**

**I only own Gwen Prewett.**

* * *

Sirius Black was irresistible to women. It was one of his natural talents, as he would often tell his fellow Marauders. The girls at Hogwarts, yes, even some Slytherins, blushed furiously if he glanced in their direction, and if he winked? Well, he didn't get the nickname 'Knicker Basket' at random. 

Here he was in his seventh year, under a challenge by Remus Lupin not to snog, frisk, or shag a girl until Prongs got his act together and Lily Evans fell madly in love with him or some nonsense. Really, he did it because he felt that James needed a vote of confidence, though every passing day meant that he had gone another day without so much as a touch from the opposite sex.

It was really quite unfortunate as he was hoping to leave some kind of lasting impression among Hogwarts' female population. There were a few Ravenclaws who would give rather suggestive glances to him during classes, but he didn't seem to notice them.

Sirius was distracted by one Gwen Prewett. He was mystified and drawn to her by the fact that she wouldn't even think to give him the time of day. He'd give her a charming grin while passing through the hallways, but her eyes would always face straight ahead, not even acknowledging that he was there. Sometimes, if he was lucky, she would purse her lips, but that was rare.

He liked attention. He did, and knowing that one girl _didn't_ give him attention made him uneasy. Maybe it was the fact that he had gone two days, seventeen hours and fifteen minutes since his last snog, but the added fact that Gwen wasn't at all taken by his charms unnerved him.

He didn't know what it was about him that put her off. Gwen got along well with Remus, and he remembered that she would occasionally interrupt their prank planning sessions for homework help. Peter managed to make her grin occasionally. James had several conversations with her about Quidditch. Sirius remained the only Marauder whose interaction with Gwen was limited to "Would you pass the pumpkin juice?"

Sirius knew that _he_ wasn't put off by her. By his standards, ("What standards, Padfoot?" James would often joke), he ranked her quite high in the looks department, petite, nice legs, and mischievous eyes (at least until he spoke to her, they would then become cold and steely). The only thing that separated her from the other girls he had shagged was that she was a ginger, and perhaps she wasn't as busty as the blondes he normally went for. Nor, he admitted, nearly as stupid.

It was far more difficult to impress her with any sort of turn of phrase. It was irritating him now. Her less than enthused responses drove him mad. He didn't know why he even bothered with her, but something nagged at him to keep trying. He decided to try an entirely different tactic. Hers.

It seemed to work. She spoke to him first when he joined her in the library, though they were less than friendly words. Successive nights in the library, he found himself studying Gwen more than his Muggle Studies.

From the moment he saw her in the morning till before he went to bed (though the latter was far less innocent), Gwen Prewett was the only thing he thought about. He didn't understand it. Never before in his history with what Remus called 'the gentler sex' did he think of a girl this often, or in this way for that matter. Normally, it was The Colonel who did all the thinking.

He was almost disgusted with himself, and tried to move on, to find a new prospect for after the challenge. But, thanks to Gideon and Fabian, oddly enough, he found himself sitting next to her at the Three Broomsticks.

"God." She muttered under breath. She was looking at Dorcas who was batting her eyelashes at Gideon. "Hex me if I ever do that for a bloke."

"What was that?" Sirius couldn't help but smirk at the comment. "I think you'd rather hex _yourself_ before doing something like that, Gwen."

"You know, Sirius, I think you're right." She replied. "Especially if it's you."

Sirius was surprised, not by what she said, but by the fact that there was amusement in her voice. Or perhaps he was just deranged by his fancy for her and imagined it.

"That hurts Gwen, right here." He said, his hand on his chest.

"Surprised it didn't bounce off of your enormously large ego." Gwen smirked.

"Shot number two." Sirius replied dramatically. "You're so cutting with your words, and your sarcasm."

"I wasn't being sarcastic." She deadpanned. She glanced over at Cassandra, and tried to eavesdrop into her conversation with Fabian. "She has no idea what he's talking about."

Sirius looked over at Cassandra who was nodding vehemently at Fabian's explanation of a particularly difficult curse. "You're so kind to your friends, Gwen." Gwen looked affronted at this. "I'm just saying, I've observed that."

"I-Its...it's only because they fancy my brothers." She sputtered. "It's...odd. One would have to be truly mad. And I _am_ kind to my friends, Sirius."

He decided not to do any more personal attacks, at least for his safety. The table eventually got into a heated, and amusing, debate over England's languishing Quidditch team. The amusing bit came when Dorcas or Cassandra decided that they wanted to sound smart for their respective twin of choice. Gwen, at least, Sirius noted, knew what she was talking about when it came to Quidditch. And she could formulate her thoughts into quite intelligent arguments. It should have hurt his "enormously large ego" that she beat him several times with points that he couldn't argue, but for some reason it didn't.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hooray, a second chapter! Again, all I own is Gwen. Many thanks again to fuegodealmas, beta extraordinaire **

**Thanks to all of you Gwen fans for enjoying my writing!**

* * *

Things went along quite swimmingly until he slipped back into his old ways of trying to charm the pants off of Gwen with a grin and a snarky phrase. 

The result? Abject failure.

It was as Sirius assumed. Gwen did not go to the library any of the successive nights after his slip up. Actually, he hadn't seen her at all since he brought up wanking. "She probably learned stealth from Gideon and Fabian." Sirius groaned. "Honestly she can probably climb ceilings, if that's how she's escaping me."

"Alright, Padfoot, if you bring up your stupidity again, I will put a silencing charm on you. I've got the match tomorrow, I need to sleep." James' voice was muffled by his pillow.

"Sorry, Prongs." Sirius muttered. He left the dormitory and sought someone to talk to in the Common Room. He looked around to see a few fifth years in a corner, books piled around them. And when Sirius looked at the couch in front of the fireplace, just the sight of her strawberry blonde hair started making his stomach turn into knots. "_Quit_…" He muttered to himself, as he walked over.

He sat down on the opposite end of the couch as Gwen hastily packed her things. "Gwen, wait."

She tried to ignore the fact his voice was less, less _Sirius Black: Sex God_, and more of someone who was trying to apologise. She stood up, heaving her bag sling over her shoulders. "Gwen," He stood up and took her by the arm. "Look, I'm sorry alright?"

Gwen wrenched her arm out of his hand. "Right, whatever." She started walking away.

"Hey, I'm trying here, Gwen. I'm trying!" He called. She stopped and walked briskly back to him.

"If you really really tried, Black, you'd talk to girls better, treat us better than you do now." She muttered. "Not all of us are stupid slags that trip over themselves to be with you. I don't even see it."

Sirius was taken aback, she wasn't yelling but her tone was cold and she gave him a hardened glare. He actually would have preferred her yelling than to hear this tone of disappointment.

"What do you think I'm doing, then?" He replied after deliberation. "Not once have I called you a slag, alright? I was just...I liked how we well we got on at Hogsmeade. I was just apologising, dammit. I mean, I shouldn't have assumed that you...I'll stop. Look. I'm sorry for bringing _it_ up alright?"

He thought that her expression softened, if only for a moment. "I'll think it over, Black." Her tone unchanged.

Sirius' face broke out into a grin. "Great. Really. I'd give you a hug now, but I don't know if that's allowed on the terms of Moony's challenge."

"Well," She paused to find the right words. "It's the thought that counts. So good night then, Black."

"Think hard, alright?" He grinned, putting his hands behind his back, as the overwhelming urge to snog her senseless came over him.

----

He wished he'd been sober for Gwen's lap dance, but at the same time, he was quite glad he'd been pissed to the point of incoherence, because he might have relapsed and called Gwen something he'd regret. It may have been the lingering effects of the alcohol that subdued him, but Sirius didn't mind as it made Gwen more amiable towards him while they were at Hogsmeade.

He took it as a prime opportunity to try and not make a complete arse of himself in front of her. So he was quite ready to beat his head against a pole when he asked her what her favourite ice cream flavour was. He didn't entertain this idea when she actually answered, to his surprise.

Sirius didn't expect her to answer truthfully. From his past experience with Gwen, he expected something like "What, to see if you've had this ice cream flavour already? I didn't think you'd stoop so low as to using ice cream as a metaphor." instead of her answering "Vanilla." He liked that she answered, complete with a rather amusing explanation, because it was as if they were really friends. While she wasn't looking, he furrowed his brow at the feeling of his stomach twining itself into knots. _Again_.

And he was completely blindsided when she asked him, very frankly, whether or not he would move on to having real relationships as opposed to shag friends. As they milled about Honeydukes, surreptitiously sampling candies, Sirius found himself struggling to figure out how he felt about her. There was the obvious that she was very pretty, but there was also the fact that she was quite forward. That was what confused Sirius the most, mainly since never had to work this hard for a girl.

He was absolutely pleased that he managed to make Gwen laugh. Actually, he grinned through their entire walk back up to Gryffindor Tower because of it. He didn't know what he was doing differently, but once they reached the bottom of the stairs to the girls' dormitories, Gwen was closer to him than she'd ever been before. He saw that she had faint freckles on her cheeks, and that she had long lashes. He had the sudden urge to brush his teeth.

Then they were interrupted by the aftermath of what Sirius would later call "Hurricane James."

----

Gwen had only been gone from their table for a moment, but this gave a brunette-haired Ravenclaw perfectly enough time to pounce. "Sirius!" She breathed his name in a way that she hoped he'd find alluring.

"This is a library." He responded, not looking up at her. She sat down in the empty seat next to him, and brought her chair closer to him, resting her hand on his arm. He looked at her and tried to remember her name. 'Hannah?...no, that's not it...Erica!'

"Sirius, there's a free study room, care to join me?" She asked. Had this happened to him before Gwen, before the challenge, he would have been the one to proposition her.

He returned his focus to his textbook. "That's nice, Erica."

"So you're not going to be there?" She asked, removing her hand from his arm. "Oh, come on Sirius. Don't you remember back to that time, fifth year?"

Sirius honestly couldn't remember whatever escapade it was he had with her. "Look, I'm trying to help Gwen find something-"

"Gwen who?" She asked incredulously.

"Gwen Prewett, ginger, Gryffindor sixth year." He elaborated. "I'm helping her do some research for her Potions essay, so I'd appreciate it if you left me alone, thanks."

He heard her leave and brought his attention back to his reading. "Sirius." Gwen's voice called. He looked up at her and grinned. "What was that all about?"

Sirius shrugged and shook his head. "Just some girl. Wanted a shag I suppose."

"And what did you tell her?" Gwen asked quickly.

He felt his stomach do a somersault when he heard the urgency in her voice. "Told her 'That's nice,' which, if translated, means 'Piss off.'" He grinned. "Don't think she quite got it until I mentioned you."

"And what about me did you mention?" Gwen asked, biting her lip.

"That I was helping a lovely ginger named Gwen with her Potions essay." Sirius grinned.

Gwen started laughing, shaking her head at Sirius. "I've been working on Arithmacy, this whole time."

"It worked." Sirius smirked. Gwen rolled her eyes, though her smile appeared to be impossible to remove. "Does your face hurt yet from smiling?"

"Yours will if you bother me anymore, Sirius." She replied. "And not in a good way, so let me do my work, alright?"

"Ah, there's the Gwen I know." He laughed. He started reading his textbook again when he felt her tap his foot. "Oh, now who's bothering whom?"


	3. Chapter 3

Well here it is, the final chapter of the three-shot. This leaves me free to write about Gideon and Fabian's point of view. Heh.

I only own Gwen Prewett, JKRowling owns all other characters. Thanks to beta fuegodealmas for reading and editing and asking many questions.

* * *

Sirius didn't know what was bothering him at breakfast. He made a few jokes with his fellow Marauders, but it wasn't until Gwen joined them adding in a sly line about doilies that he found himself feeling… was normal the word? Over the following weeks Sirius noticed himself becoming increasingly easily distracted when she wasn't around, unable to concentrate or focus. It was even worse when she was there, because all he wanted to do, then, was look at her.

"Ergh, what is going on with me?" He muttered during his Potions class. He had managed to nick his finger for the third time that week, this time with the knife he was using to cut up some shrivelfig.

"You look lost, Padfoot." James commented as he was stirring the contents of his cauldron. Sirius didn't respond, and was staring blankly at his Potions book.

After the class was over, James smirked and said, "Sirius, you were horrible today, never saw Slughorn looking so, slug-like...er...whatever." He shrugged, giving up on trying to find an appropriate adjective.

"I don't think he's even listening." Remus replied. "Look at him, he looks like he got a few too many Bludgers to the head."

"You know, there are some diseases that affect the mind. Probably caught one shagging and now it's finally caught up with him." Peter added. This statement earned Peter a hearty clap on the back from James.

He wasn't listening because he saw Gwen walking towards him. For some reason, his breath caught in his chest, as he watched her walk closer and closer. He had to have imagined it, but when she walked past, he found it ridiculously easy to focus- on her, that is. Sirius' eyes followed the ginger haired girl as she headed towards the Potions classroom.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Sirius staring. She smirked and shook her head, before walking into the classroom and out of sight.

"Ah, it isn't a disease caused by shagging, but perhaps one caused by a great lack thereof." Remus grinned. "All right there, Padfoot?"

"Never better." Sirius grinned, and he was back to himself again, as if he hadn't been completely vexed for a good portion of their morning class. Apparently not seeing her in the morning had had its effect on him.

Maybe it was because Gwen was finally relaxing around him, but each time she saw him in the halls, she would send him a small smile, or nudge him gently with her arm, and then there was Sirius' personal favourite. In between free periods, she would walk by him and lazily grab onto his tie as she passed, pulling on it until he realized that he only had seconds to decide whether to stay with his friends or to follow the girl.

He always chose the girl.

----

Sirius spent the entire innuendo filled day wishing that Gwen didn't look so innocent every time she spoke in double entendre, and that James wasn't rubbish at getting girls. He always thought of her, it seemed. If he wasn't with her, he could picture her vividly, very very vividly, and would often look as though he was smiling at nothing, prompting many to wonder if he had been caught unawares by an Daydream Charm.

He wondered, briefly, before he fell asleep on a sofa in the Common Room, Gwen snuggled comfortably next to him, why he hadn't noticed her before, what could have happened if he got to know her before his seventh year. She probably wouldn't have had anything to do with him, he thought, nor would he be having the current blissful moment in which to ponder this hypothetical situation.

And in that instant, he was quite grateful for Remus Lupin's ingenuity in creating this challenge, though Remus would never be told this, of course.

-----

She was covered in pumpkin, some of it camouflaged in her ginger hair. She couldn't have looked lovelier, Sirius thought.

He kissed her that night, without the interfering pumpkin taste. Sirius relished in the softness of her lips, each gentle caress. When Gwen finally let him 'into her lady garden,' as Remus called it, Sirius could finally say that she was his, and his alone.

"So, now that you've won your prize, Sirius, can I assume that you'll dash off to chase other girls and shag them senseless?" Gwen asked, looking up at him.

"Are you serious, Gwen?" Sirius asked, brought down from his state of inexpressible bliss.

"You are." She smirked. "Oh...horrible."

"Nope, you're unfortunately stuck with me, Gwen." He grinned, stroking her hair. "I've gone aboard the Ginger Express, and it appears it's a one way journey."

"You're losing your touch, Sirius." Gwen laughed.

"Maybe, but I know you won't mind." He grinned. "And besides, the Ginger Express is going to be a wild ride."

"Honestly, I must be daft for letting you on this train." She sighed.

---

Like any couple, Sirius and Gwen fought, mainly over little things. Gwen absolutely hated it when he called her 'his Ginger Minx' when they were out in public, and Sirius would be equally irked when her sarcastic comments would get out of hand, especially when they were directed at him. But he knew how to head her off when she started ranting. He would let her go on for a moment, and then he would kiss her mid-sentence.

"I hate when you do that, Sirius." She replied after pulling away from one of many of her rants about Sirius' inability to keep their flat tidy.

"I know." He grinned, his hands still resting on her waist. "And I also know that, at the same time, you love it."

"I do." She smiled, and he gently put his forehead against hers. "So do it again."

"Don't know that it'll have the same effect as you aren't yelling at me to keep my socks in order." Sirius smirked.

"I'll put _you_ in order, Sirius Black."

"That's what I wanted to hear." He replied, as she pulled him closer. He loved it when she ran her hands through his hair, the way she laughed at his occasional ineptitude, the way his hands felt as the smoothness of her skin, and most of all the way she looked at him when he thought he couldn't see her.

"We'll have to fight more often." Gwen replied breathlessly, biting her lip.

It was probably the way a few wisps of her red hair fell in front of her face, or the pink tinge that coloured her cheeks, but he grinned at her in response. "Mmm."

"Mmm?" She grinned.

"I think I love you, Gwen Prewett." He mumbled, shifting nervously as he tried to gauge her reaction. Sirius saw she was flushed more than ever, and felt her hands bring him closer to her to give him an eskimo kiss.

"Ah...now I _know_ that you love me _back_." Gwen replied. She looked up at him, and was met with a broad smile. "You're such a softie, Sirius."

"And you love it." He grinned.


End file.
